Ever been obliviated?

Toronto researchers at Sick Kids Hospital recently announced that they are now able to erase painful memories from the minds of mice. Harry Potter, Orwell, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind comes to mind.


The possibilities for this technology are endless and so are the ethical dilemmas. I'm not really sure where to start, but neither are the researchers.

Mostly, the technology has been proposed to help detach people from the strong emotional reactions that accompany traumatic memories and are usually associated with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). In theory, PTSD will be reduced, but I think that the potential for this technology to be abused is very strong.

Hopefully this will have strong restrictions to the use of it and will only be used as a last resort.

United Way for the third world?

On Thursday, March 12th I went to the launch dinner of Belleville's own Streams of Hope, which bills itself as the United Way for the third world.

I was very impressed with the overall message behind the organization: 100% of funds go to help organizations that already exist within the countries in need. Streams of Hope is able to do this by being entirely volunteer based.

That's right. They have no paid staff.

From a donor's perspective, this is pretty sweet for me! I know where the money is going and I'm fortunate enough to know the people who are involved in going over to visit and help the third party organizations in person to make sure that the funds go to what's needed the most. Overall, I think it's an awesome idea for a non-profit. Finally, someone's getting it right.

Charity starts at home

Have you ever wanted to make a difference but didn't know how? Danny Brown of Press Release PR can help with that. Danny is spearheading the 12 for 12k challenge:

- 12 months
- 12 charities
- 1200 people
- $10 per person
- $12,000 per person

Sound like something you'd be interested in helping out with? Visit the site here for more info! This month's charity is Share Our Strength, which is campaigning to end child hunger.

Technology gone too far?

I stumbled on ViaGen's site recently and was curious as to what the services the company offers. ViaGen is a cloning company that offers equine, bovine, porcine, and pet cloning services.

I'm not really sure as to how I feel about the company. Everything is presented in a rose-tinted kind of way "Ever wish you could have offspring from a champion gelding? Cloning offers the possibility to fulfill that desire by producing an intact male that is genetically identical to a champion gelding."

The site goes on to caution that "Not every animal is suitable for cloning" but reassures the reader that cloning is "a valuable tool." No mention of ethics is made; they could be cleverly included in a FAQ section.

Never mind ethics, has the laws behind cloning caught up with the technology yet? If enough people clone a champion racehorse and race them in the same race, how would officials decide on the winner? Is ViaGen a sign of greed gone out of control or a new step forward in keeping racing bloodlines pure?

Pictured above: Clayton, clone of Scamper, barrel racing champion

Who says procrastinating isn't useful?

This past weekend, instead of "lazing about" (read: cramming in as much school work as humanly possible into 48 hours) I decided that I should go get educated on social media, so I went to PodCamp Toronto 2009.

I can't really describe everything that went down at PodCamp, suffice to say I learned a lot about the technical aspects of making a video from Geo Perdis, how to use social media for non-profits from John Sheridan, and what's new and upcoming in Canadian social media from Sean Moffitt.

I ended up taking a lot of notes, learning a lot about how to integrate social media with my (starting soon!) job as a communications officer, and even networking a little bit. Not to mention I had an awesome chicken souvlaki pita for lunch at Mutual Street Deli.

I'm looking forward to see what next year brings. Hopefully I'll be good enough that I might have some input to give instead of mainly taking.


Image courtesy of LexnGer; Roast beef sandwich from Mutual Street Deli.

Chillin' with the birds

Climate change is pushing American birds further north, into Canada. Way to go Toronto Star on picking up on this!

According to the Audubon Society's most recent report, warmer weather in the US has led to the range expansion of 58% of species observed in the Christmas Bird Count. These birds are moving further north into the colder weather.

This may sound crazy at first, but it really makes a lot of sense. The birds aren't equipped to deal with warmer temperatures so they move further north (into Canada) to where the temperatures are closer to the seasonal range that they are used to.

The biggest problem now is how to reverse this trend. The most obvious solution would be to reverse the temperature changes, unfortunately this is a complicated issue that isn't fully understood yet. The best solution for now is a band aid one at best: conserve the suitable habitats that currently exist and hope that the species can hold on for long enough until the temperature changes are at least halted.

Happy (belated) birthday Darwin!

Did you know that Darwin's 200th birthday was on February 12th, 2009? A smorgasbord of events were organized in honour of one of the most important scientists in history, not to mention the slew of articles that were released.

One article in particular caught my attention, or rather the related material that was listed after the article. The link provided led me to a site called "Dissent from Darwin" and was a petition from a number of "scientists from prominent organizations" who are "skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life."

This petition was started by the Discovery Institute, which puts itself forward as a "forward-thinking" organization wanting to make "a positive vision of the future practical." All of this sounds great on the surface, until you read further into how the organization functions. Now the truth comes out.

Discovery Institute was founded on the beliefs of "God-given reason" and "the permanency of human nature." Does this really sound like the beliefs of a science-oriented, logic-based organization? I would have to disagree.

What's puzzling is that the proposed alternative to Darwin's theory is intelligent design. That's right, intelligent design. Again, I have to question what the real reasoning behind this organization is. Could this be a new form of creationists' arguments against evolution? Who knows. All I know is I'm not sold on intelligent design. I think I'll keep curling up by the fire with a glass of wine and read On the Origin of Species.